Brussels, 20 March 2025 – The International Committee in Search of Justice (ISJ)—backed by 4,000 cross-party lawmakers across both sides of the Atlantic—welcomes the release of two French hostages from Iran this week, though two other French nationals remain unjustly imprisoned.
However, what is deeply concerning is that the price is being paid at the expense of the Iranian Resistance. This approach only emboldens the Iranian regime to persist in its hostage-taking and terrorism. While Mr. Olivier Grondeau has been freed, it is all too likely that more French and European citizens will soon replace him in Iran’s prisons.
The timing of this release is particularly troubling, as it coincides with a renewed wave of baseless accusations against the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and its President-elect, Maryam Rajavi, in certain French media outlets. This synchronicity raises serious concerns about the motives behind these reports and whether the release of the two French hostages was part of a broader deal orchestrated by Tehran.
On March 18, 2025, French media published reports filled with false accusations against the NCRI and Mrs. Rajavi, including allegations of financial misconduct based on reports allegedly submitted to French prosecutors. These accusations mirror a case fabricated two decades ago, which was thoroughly investigated for 12 years before being dismissed by an investigative judge. The case was ultimately ruled baseless, as it was entirely derived from the narratives and false allegations propagated by the Iranian regime.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) has strongly condemned these reports as defamatory, highlighting a strikingly similar incident that occurred just nine months earlier.
On June 8, 2024, Le Monde published a one-sided, four-page article attacking the Principal Iranian opposition movement, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). Just days later, on June 12, French authorities carried out a highly publicized raid targeting a center operated by PMOI sympathizers—an operation that was swiftly followed by the release of a French hostage in Iran. Iranian state media, particularly the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency, immediately amplified the narrative, while a senior Tehran judiciary official openly praised the French authorities for their actions.
A recent French media report has now drawn attention to the clear link between hostage releases and measures taken against the Iranian Resistance, particularly the PMOI. These baseless accusations serve no purpose other than to appease the Iranian regime, a religious dictatorship that has systematically weaponized hostage diplomacy for the past 46 years to secure the release of its convicted terrorists in Europe—including the notorious cases of diplomat-terrorist Assadollah Assadi and a judiciary henchman Hamid Noury.
Concessions to Iran’s clerical regime—often made at the expense of the Iranian people and their Resistance movement—have a long and troubling history. These appeasements have only emboldened Tehran’s rulers, fueling their terrorism and hostage-taking.
In the first half of 1986, France pressured the leader of the Iranian Resistance to leave the country in an attempt to placate the regime. This was followed by another disgraceful episode in December 1987, when Iranian refugees supporting the Resistance were forcibly arrested and deported to Gabon.
Similar pressures resurfaced during Iranian President Mohammad Khatami’s visit to France in October 1999, as French authorities intensified their crackdown on supporters of the Iranian Resistance.
The most infamous act of collusion came on June 17, 2003, when French police raided the headquarters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), arresting 160 of its members and supporters in an operation that was later exposed as part of a broader effort to appease the Iranian regime.
These actions have reinforced the Iranian regime’s strategy of detaining foreign nationals and exporting terrorism since 1979. Over the past four decades, such concessions have failed to moderate the regime’s behavior. On the contrary, they have emboldened Tehran, enabling it to escalate its hostage-taking and terrorist activities with impunity.
The ISJ views these developments as part of a deliberate and systematic campaign in which Tehran exploits Western media and Judiciary to target dissidents abroad—a practice that has been at the core of the regime’s strategy for decades.
The ISJ urgently calls on French and European political leaders, legislators, and human rights defenders to condemn these arrangements and demand full transparency regarding the secret negotiations that are enabling these dangerous developments.
Prof. Alejo Vidal Quadras, President, ISJ
Struan Stevenson
Paulo Casaca
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